


Those Who Favor Ice

by Baidar



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Dubious Consent, Khoki - Freeform, Lokhan - Freeform, M/M, bear with it please but it will all make sense hurr durr, weird shit happening here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-10
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-08 04:32:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1128399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baidar/pseuds/Baidar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki never expected to have such a hard fall or fall so hard.</p><p>*this happens around the avenger's timeline and things will ensue</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Some say the world will end in fire,  
> Some say in ice.  
> ~poem lines are from Robert Frost's Fire and Ice

 

 

He didn’t care he was falling.

Falling down.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Into nothing that was something at the same time because he knew that the closing wormhole only led to another place.

A different place from his oafish “brother” and his foolish “father.” Not a real brother or father or mother or family or friends. Because he had killed his real father for Odin only to have this.

This fall.

Because he didn’t belong.

Because he was the phantom that lurked in the darkness, the bogey that scared the children to sleep at night, the monster that ate hearts, chewed them up and spat them back out a bloody, pulpy mess of what they were.

A monster.

  
**“I never wanted to live in anyone’s shadow,”** Loki whispered as he felt the staff slip out of his fingers. The cold metal he had found so familiar underneath his hand during his brief time as king was nothing more than that: cold metal. Unfeeling, cold metal.

There was no one who cared for him. It was him, Loki, the abandoned son of Jötuns, against the world, and in the moment before he slipped through the gap between worlds, he smiled at the thought of a burden being lifted off his shoulders.

He liked it that way.


	2. Discombobulate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From what I've tasted of desire

He expected a strange new universe but what he found was inexplicably mundane. Like the insides of mortal homes, though there were quite a few more appliances than he usually saw. All in all, it reminded him of the rooms that composed the insides of the structure mortals had set up about Mjolnir when it fell to earth.

Ordinary. He had fallen to the mortal realm of Midgard, it seemed.

Loki snorted as he brushed the nonexistent dust off his robes. He spied his helmet which seemed to have followed him down here turned sideways on the cold ground. A sneer twisted his lip. Hopefully, Odin with his all watchful eye had not realized that he was here. He wanted to plot in peace and plan for revenge without that old fool’s meddling. He smiled to himself thinking about Thor’s words to the old man. How true.

Thinking about vengeance turned to assessing his current stores of energy. It seemed that ensuring a safe passage through the wormhole had drained the last of his magic and he narrowed his eyes at the thought. He would have to live as a mortal for a while. Days, at least. The thought disgusted him and shaking the last of the imaginary dirt off his clothes, he began to turn and head towards the exit.

**“I would not move an inch if I were you.”**

The cold voice, sliding like a knife into Loki’s flesh, froze the god like unexpected frost in spring. Loki halted and looked towards the source of the voice, mildly annoyed that he had not picked up this mortal’s presence in the room.

It was a man. Ordinary, ordinary mortal. A set of piercing blue eyes locked with Loki’s own green ones. Pale skin, as if the man had not seen the light of day for a while, and jet-colored hair, like Loki’s own. There was an appearance of lithe, savage leanness to the mortal that reminded Loki of the giant wildcats inhabiting the forests of Asgard. The hands holding the gun pointed at Loki’s chest did not waver with hesitation; this was a trained soldier and he had killed before and would not hesitate to again.

 **“Now that I have your attention: your name and business in my laboratory, please?”** the man continued in a deep baritone. Lowering his head slightly, he glared up at Loki from underneath his knitted brows with narrowed blue eyes.

Loki assessed the situation quickly. Even without his magical powers, the god was still a formidable foe with his Jötun heritage. The bullet could injure him but that wouldn’t stop Loki from snapping the mortal’s neck. A slight baring of teeth indicated the approach of a smile that slid onto Loki’s face, a face that changed expressions to suit his current needs.

 **“Ah, I assume I have no business here?”** Loki offered back with a disarming spread of his hands. However, those words had no effect on the mortal’s face which Loki then assumed was carved out of stone.

 **“Don’t play the idiot,”** the cold voice retorted quickly. **“I will not hesitate to fix your body with a new orifice from which all the bullshit can spill out.”**

The insult ruffled him. Loki found himself narrowing his eyes slightly as he returned the mortal’s unflinching scowl. This change in facial features elicited a smirk onto the corner of the man’s lips.

**“I insist, your name and business, please.”**

**“Do not trifle with me, mortal,”** Loki muttered in a low voice.

The mortal in question tilted his head slightly at the words while he continued to fix the god with that same chilly glare.

**“Name and business.”**

The mortal was tempting the tiger. Without any hesitation, Loki seized a steel instrument on a nearby table and sprang into action.

The god lurched forward, bringing it crashing down on the mortal’s head. The man instantly crumpled at the force of the blow and Loki smiled a feral grin. There was just a splash of blood on his shoes and he reached down to wipe the drops off. Then, the god turned and left, his robes sweeping behind him.

At least, that was how it was supposed to be.

Instead, Loki found the mortal’s weapon jammed against his jaw, the cold steel pressing uncomfortably against his neck while the mortal seized Loki’s weapon hand with an unrelenting grip that wrenched his wrist backwards. An inarticulate cry of pain hissed out from Loki’s mouth as he struggled briefly before relaxing again as he felt the gun grind into his jawbone again. His entire body was locked into position with the mortal holding him from behind.

 **“I would not do that again, if I were you.”** The voice, in the same monotone as before, was uncomfortably close to his ears.

Surprise was etched on Loki’s face for just the briefest few seconds before he wiped the look off. Bested _again_ in the last hour. The humiliation almost sent him down on his knees. He needed to take his anger out on something. Cry. Sob. He was never a god. Just a Jötun bastard child posing as an Asgardian.

Despite all of that, Loki let out a chuckle. **“You do not know what you are dealing with, mortal,”** the god answered, feeling the man’s breath against his neck. This elicited a slightly amused frown from the man.

**“Simple. A trespasser. _Name_ and—“**

**“I am Loki of Asgard, _mortal_. I am a _god_ and you would do well to unhand me before I quarter you and leave your guts out for the crows, you—”** Loki spat viciously, unable to bear the indignation any longer. Who was this Midgardian to challenge him? Insult him? Treat a god like he was no better than the scum he wiped off his shoes?

A fist crashed into his face before he could spit out a last insult and Loki was stunned by the intensity of the pain that exploded on the side of his face. Scarlet blood began to seep out from the wound and he found his breath hitching a bit as he felt the sluggish warmth bloom on his cheeks.

**“—and a lunatic as well, it seems.”**

Loki listened and they both stood still, locked in that position for what seemed like eternity to his eyes. Blinking once, he turned his head to glare at the Midgardian, his distaste glinting in his green gaze.

**“Who are you?”**

**“Why would _you_ care?”**

**“Because I gave you my name. It’s only polite that you give me yours.”**

**“You are in no position to demand _anything_ right now.”**

Loki frowned slightly. **“You are not an _ordinary_ mortal, are you?”** he inferred, jabbing his guess at the man. **“You’re not like the others who crawl in the dirt and live meaningless lives—you’re something _more_ , aren’t you?”**

There was a moment of silence that lasted a few heartbeats as Loki wondered how the mortal would react. It was a gamble: the man could either blow his head off or let him live for the next few minutes or more.

**“John Harrison.”**

 

_John Harrison._

 

* * *

 

 

The man known now as John Harrison had been planning the prototype for the weapons he had been charged to design. With his crew at the Admiral’s mercy, he had little choice except to comply with the orders and build the weapons in exchange for their lives. In truth, Harrison knew that Marcus would plan not let the crew go and instead would continue to manipulate him further. Too bad the man known as John Harrison would not allow that possibility and he had been planning to spirit the capsules that contained his sleeping crew away from the clutches of the Admiral.

Now, in his supposedly secure laboratory, he seemed to have some company. Outside of the guards at the doors to this underground complex, John Harrison only received Marcus and his personal bodyguards inside. To have this lunatic trespasser was something interesting that broke the routine of designing and building though Harrison was not too pleased when this Loki of Asgard began threatening him. The man known as John Harrison did not like that.

 **“Are you going to let me go?”** Loki queried softly, hopefully.

John Harrison allowed a slow smile to creep up the corners of his lips. Then, he watched Loki relax in relief as if this _god_ would expect John to let him go. Unlikely.

Twisting Loki’s arm back, John forced the Asgardian, crying aloud in pain, to the ground. He kept the gun against the back of Loki’s neck. Loki was against the ground, his shoulders screaming in pain and his cheek bleeding and throbbing and _hurting_. Hurt was not something that Loki was used to in his life. Loki had ever rarely been hurt—in Thor’s roughhousing when they were young, during the few hunts and spars gone wrong (and he had found something in books instead), the disastrous battle with the Ice Giants that eventually resulted in Thor’s temporary banishment, and his final fight with his adopted brother. Hurt was an alien.

 **“And you’re no _ordinary_ human either, are you?”** Harrison continued, his voice terse. The man was kneeling on Loki’s back, one knee digging painfully into the Asgardian’s spine.

Like how Loki had noted his strength was not that of a regular being of his face, Harrison had noted that Loki was a little bit something more than a lunatic but maybe still lunatic indeed. The man known as John Harrison did not believe in gods. There was only his self and the world and no higher powers to pray to except his own better abilities.

 **“No, I am a _god_ ,”** Loki repeated, unable to let a sliver of annoyance into his voice. How many times did he have to say it? He supposed that, in the modern mortal world, they didn’t believe in entities such as him. However, he was real, all right. The Nine Realms did exist and he was here, no? Gods did exist and the stupid, little _mortal_ was too insular to comprehend the greater universe.

 **“Say that again,”** John Harrison began. **“Say that again I will prove that you can be as easily killed as anyone else in this world, _god_.”**

Loki turned so that he could at least glare at Harrison out of the corner of his eyes. However, he kept quiet because he knew that his skin would not stop a bullet. It would hurt and he did not like hurt. Closing his eyes, he adopted a resigned posture.

**“John Harrison, I ask that you let me go and lead me out and I will no longer trouble you.”**

The man known as John Harrison blinked down at Loki as if considering it.

Then, Harrison raised the gun and slammed it down on the base of Loki’s skull. The Asgardian was out cold before he knew what happened.

Harrison pressed a finger against Loki’s neck to make sure that the hapless trespasser was indeed out cold before raising himself off the ground and dusting off his pants. With a sigh, he pulled Loki’s body over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. It was time to find out what exactly could he do with a god?


	3. I am a God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hold with those who favor fire.

He was falling again, through darkness, with the shards of the Bifrost spinning all around him. He reached around, hoping for a hold on something, only to find nothing to grab on to and save himself from the drop. Finally, when he felt like he could fall no longer, Loki found himself clutching something: the staff of Odin.

Surprised, the god looked up, expecting to see the wizened, one-eyed visage of Odin framed by white hair. No, that didn’t appear. It was the sharp, angular face of the man with the cold eyes and the cold smile. For the moment, he didn’t recognize the mortal but after a few heartbeats, he realized it was the man known to him as John Harrison. The mortal who had dared to insult him, a god.

Knowing his life was on the edge, Loki opened his mouth to speak. **“Harrison, I—”**

Without any beckoning or begging or pleading from Loki, Harrison pulled him up to the cliff and Loki was just left there, dumbfounded as he stared into the face of his savior. Why? Why had he done that? Harrison offered no answer except to step back from Loki with a slight change of expression on his seemingly frozen features. What was that look in his eyes?

Then, the world clanged into darkness with the sound of a resounding boom.

 

* * *

 

 

When he woke up, the first thing he noticed was how glaringly bright the light was. It seemed to dazzle him, pierce his skull and brain with its sharp knives of brightness. Why was the light so bright.

Eyelids fluttering as he took stock of his surroundings, Loki had to remind himself how he had arrived in this room, surrounded by empty shells of numerous torpedoes. He raised his hand to touch the wet, stickiness clinging to the hair on the back of his head but found his movements halted when he noticed that his wrists were shackled to the chair arms with heavy steel. His legs seemed to have been treated the same way as when Loki tried to stand, he couldn’t. All he could do was sit on the chair.

He raised his eyes again and those malevolent, green orbs locked themselves with the cold, blue glare of John Harrison who had just entered the room. He had Loki’s horned helmet and he approached Loki, sitting down on one of those torpedoes.

The mortal set Loki’s helmet on his lap and turned it around with his fingers. Inspecting it, Harrison then fixed his gaze onto the awakened Loki.

 **“Cumbersome, isn’t it? I find that this design of helmet is ridiculously inefficient for combat and war in general, Loki of _Asgard_ ,”** Harrison remarked as he allowed the helmet to rest down on the ground. The metal of the helmet produced a hollow clunk as it was placed down on the floor.

Loki licked his lip and tasted blood, a heavy salt and iron in his mouth. He did not answer and only continued to hold Harrison’s unflinching gaze with one of his own.

_Who are you to judge, mortal? I swear when I escape, there will be no place on this—_

**“I did some research about you. You are one of the Norse deities, the god of chaos, or so you claim,”** Harrison continued as he stood up, towering above Loki’s form and staring down on him. The light silhouetted Harrison’s figure from Loki’s viewpoint and the god couldn’t help but thank the mortal for blocking out that accursed, painful light that drove needles into his head. Hurt.

**“I never imagined it would be so easy to make god _bleed_ , if you are indeed what you claim you are.”**

Loki raised his head slightly, narrowed green eyes spitting green venom. He was unable to bear the insults any longer and his brows knitted together and his nose wrinkled slightly as he glared at Harrison.

  **“You would not dare to trifle with me if I was at my full power, _mortal cur_ ,”** Loki answered back at last, his gaze following Harrison’s back as the mortal returned to his seat. Humiliation had been more of a friend than hurt. Shame had followed his footsteps in Asgard whenever he walked next to his brother along the golden pathways that wound through the city.

 **“You’re testing my patience,”** Harrison replied with a cruel smirk, half-turning his head so that he could look at the god from the corner of one eye. This gesture silenced Loki and he lowered his head.

Sitting back down on the torpedo again, Harrison let out a steely laugh. **“If gods exist, they would have done something about this poor, forsaken world of ours. Rule it, maybe, as all powerful beings do.”**

 **“We have our own kingdom, Asgard, among the Nine Realms of this universe. Gods do not need to grovel in the same mud as mortals,”** Loki snorted. This man was as blunt as the end of a wooden practice sword. Once he regained his magic, he would kill John Harrison and plan his vengeance against the Aesir from Midgard. In his studies, he had read of other races inhabiting the Nine Realms that could possibly match up to the Asgardians in power—all he had to do was convince these other people.

 **“Then why are you _here_ , Loki of Asgard, if you think of mortals so lowly?”** Harrison queried, his voice as cold as his eyes.

Loki lied, because he was the god of lies, was he not? A wry smile crossed his face again as he thought of a plausible story. The hardest part to explain was why he was in this lab. Licking his lips, he opened his mouth to speak before Harrison’s voice cut across his thoughts.

**_“Answer me.”_ **

**“I was looking to cross over into Midgard, your Earth, and the Bifrost malfunctioned. It transported me here instead of my intended destination, in this New Mexico,”** Loki replied, pulling out the first Midgardian location he remembered. That was the place Thor had been captured and held when Loki paid his older brother a little visit.

This caused Harrison to stiffen slightly as he raised his head a bit higher than before. **“ _New Mexico_. You are far from your destination indeed,”** the man remarked, his voice low. **“New Mexico does not exist anymore.”** Harrison met Loki’s frowning expression. Although he did not know what the exact definition was for each term, he could still guess. The Bifrost must be some sort of warp device, capable of transporting individuals across space.

Loki looked up at the knowledge Harrison offered him, a slightly half-puzzled look stamped on his features. **“New Mexico, in the American United States,”** Loki clarified.

 **“All nations were dissolved and Earth is now a piece of the Federation,”** Harrison answered pitilessly, sparing Loki no ounce of comfort in lies.

Could this be the future? Loki’s mind raced as he thought up of an explanation. Yes, this could be the future, but in his studies, he knew that the Bifrost had no time-bending capabilities. It was only there to transport Asgardians to the other realms. He narrowed down to the only possible options.

 **“Then I suggest that perhaps the Bifrost transported me to the future or an alternate universe,”** Loki suggested.

**“ _Magic_ , that’s what it is, isn’t it?” **

**“It’s just a higher form of science.”**

**“Would you believe that I can be a god, then, Loki of Asgard?”** Harrison replied with a cold smile. He reached down to pick up the helmet and Loki had a wrenching feeling twist his gut. He knew what Harrison was about to do and yet he could only stare at the mortal as he _dared_ to test Loki’s—a god’s— already limited patience and good will.

Lifting the helmet with his fingers, Harrison raised it above his own head and sat it snugly down on his skull. It fit surprisingly well, the cheek-guards pressing close against his jaws and the back flaring out just enough for his neck. A thin smile crossed his face as he looked to Loki and gauged his prisoner’s reaction: a mixture of rage, indignation, and disbelief.

 **“I am a god, too, Loki of Asgard,”** Harrison replied coolly, staring out at Loki from the god’s own helmet.

_At least I was one before my exile._

Bitter memories flooded up from his past before he suppressed his own recollections back into his mind. Those times of the Eugenics War did not matter now. His days as ruler of a new order on Earth did not matter now. What did matter was that he had a lunatic in his laboratory and torpedoes to finish designing to Marcus and a crew to steal from the Federation.

As for Loki, the god was trying to control himself. Closing his eyes, Loki tried to steady his body which was quivering like a leaf in the wind. Shame crept back, telling him he was powerless and whispering to him that he was nothing more than a mortal. Shame, his good friend, spared him no mercy in its jabs at his ability. Captured by a mortal! Loki would never live comfortably knowing he had been bested by the _man_ known to him as John Harrison.

_I will be the end of you, John Harrison. You are the walking dead._

Noting Loki shaking with anger, Harrison allowed a smirk to slide across his face. He let the helmet sit on his head for a few seconds longer before taking it off and tucking it under one arm and turning to leave. God, indeed.

**“Back to bed, Loki of Asgard. Unlike your mother, I will not be kindly tucking you in with a hug and a kiss.”**

Turning the lights off in this storage room, Harrison let the door slam shut with a final bang as he exited and the room slipped back into blissful darkness.

Once Harrison was gone, Loki raised his head again, his mouth set in a firm line of determination.


	4. Flipping the Switch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But if it had to perish twice...

While he was in the darkness, Loki managed to cool himself down. Loki thought about all the events that had transpired and all the events that would transpire.

He was probably not in the Nine Realms universe anymore, or if he was, it would be in an alternate timeline. After Loki’s machinations in the human world with the Destroyer sent to kill Thor, he knew that their world would be much more knowledgeable about the Nine Realms than Harrison had shown himself to be. Asgard could not keep itself apart for long from the ever-adapting and ever-advancing human race.

He was angry, too, itching for revenge against Harrison, but Loki couldn’t help but think of the dream he had earlier before his further humiliation. In his studies of magic, Loki had learned to take dreams with some ounce of truth. Why had Harrison helped him? Why was the man known to Loki as John Harrison the one who saved him?

He was feeling some magic trickling back into his body. It had most likely been hours since he had first arrived in Harrison’s complex. Already, energy was flowing back into his limbs and Loki knew what he had to do to break out of this prison.

Letting the veil of human appearance slip off of him, Loki’s skin changed back into its original blue, the color of Ice Giants. Letting the frost flow through his veins, he watched and waited as patterns of ice spread across the metal bonds binding him to the chair. Once the metal achieved the desired temperature, Loki merely snapped the now-brittle shackles from his wrists and legs.

Ah, the wonders of his multi-heritage upbringing. Aesir and Jötun. Loki couldn’t help but think of what Harrison would do once he found himself facing something modern mortals had never faced before.

Straightening himself, Loki found his back, neck, and cheek aching. Reaching behind his head to his bloody hair, he found that the source of the bleeding had healed itself already. There was still a bruise on his cheek, but that was quickly fading as well. Had Harrison noticed that? Hopefully not—he wanted the idiot mortal lulled into a sense of safety before Loki struck from the shadows and ended him.

Unable to smother a chuckle, Loki grinned at the prospect, all thoughts of the strange dream forgotten in his sudden hunger for vengeance. He found the door locked but with another blast of ice, he prized it open and left that storage room.

The stairway seemed daunting, stretching upwards. Listening closely, Loki noted that it seemed as if Harrison was unaware of Loki’s escape from the shackles. A slight smirk lifted the corner of Loki’s lips as he crept up the stairs, as quiet as a cat. Perhaps Harrison was testing him, playing another little game with his prisoner. Hopefully not, because Loki was sick of the games even though he enjoyed toying with his own victims.

When he finally passed the flight of stairs, Loki ducked down below the level of the tables and crept along silently, his green eyes scanning the space between the legs of the tables for Harrison’s figure. It seemed that there were sounds coming from one of the side rooms and Loki guessed that that room was where Harrison was. Fists clenching, Loki could barely contain his eagerness.

However, when he finally caught sight of the interior of the room through his crouched posture, Loki was mildly shocked and amused as he beheld the sight of Harrison meddling with a device on a table. The mortal seemed oblivious to the god and Loki smiled as he raised himself off from his crouch on the ground. There was no hesitation as he lunged.

From earlier hunts in the Asgardian forests with Odin and Thor, Loki recalled watching Odin take aim at one of the giant wildcats with a bow and arrow. Though all of them were sure that the felines had no idea that they were being hunted, the targeted animal still instinctively moved away from the missile that would have ended its life. It seemed that Harrison also possessed this extra sense and there was no hesitation on his part as the mortal hurled the metal that was in his hands at Loki.

The attack caught him off guard as Loki was knocked to the ground again, his jaw smarting in pain from the thrown projectile. Before he knew it, Harrison was on top of him, knee grinding painfully into Loki’s stomach as Harrison’s fingers closed around his throat. Loki clawed at Harrison’s back but the man’s fingers were like the steel he worked with: unyielding. Despite his godly strength, Loki found himself matched by Harrison's own abilities.

Just when he thought he would pass out, Loki found the pressure had suddenly disappeared. He was grabbed roughly by the back of his robe and hurled unceremoniously into an open closet.

 **“If you value your life, you will stay _quiet_ ,”** Harrison hissed to Loki before he closed the door shut and Loki found himself in darkness again.

The Asgardian had half a mind to start screaming and ranting Harrison’s death threats as loud as he could but decided to investigate what had caused Harrison to spare his life and order him to be silent. Why was he being hidden?

Pressing an ear against the door, Loki could hear a hissing sound before the sound of footsteps echoed in the room. More people? Sounded like at least ten. Loki frowned slightly, wondering why he had to be hidden from them.

 **“Ah, Mr. Harrison, I’m glad to see you at work. Quite the turn-around from last month,”** a voice commented.

 **“The torpedoes should be ready in by the end of the week after the next, Captain,”** Harrison answered deftly, his tone so deferential that Loki found his narrowed eyes widening in surprise. Was Harrison under the command of these other men? Interesting—this man was not as powerful in terms of hierarchy as Loki thought.

 **“Wonderful. What about the new cruiser that we were talking about two days ago? You can design a fully weaponized starship after the torpedoes then,”** the Captain answered. **“We wouldn’t want our star prisoner to be idle in his cell, after all.”**

Harrison did not make a reply but Loki took the meaning as that the mortal was plotting again, biding his time. However, that wasn’t what peaked Loki’s interest. Harrison was a prisoner here in this lab? He must be enslaved by these other men to be an engineer for them. A small smile twitched across his lips as he continued to listen. Their voices sounded muffled as they moved around the laboratory, inspecting each gadget and piece of machinery.

Before long, Harrison and the Captain were exchanging a quick good-bye before there was another hiss as the ten men exited Harrison’s prison. Loki couldn’t help but wonder why Harrison had not tried an escape; Harrison seemed to be very, very capable from Loki’s first impression of him.

Loki opened the door and found Harrison’s gaze immediately. **“I can help you escape,”** the god offered with a smile. Of course, Loki was already plotting despite his smooth words and promises.

Harrison turned sharply. **“Why would you want to help me escape?”** he asked, his voice as frosty as before. **“After all, I’ve just beaten you up and humiliated you. Aren’t you going to _kill_ me when you have the chance?”**

_Another time, Harrison._

A slow smile spread across Loki’s carved features. **“I believe it would be in both of our best interests—I am willing to forgive your slights. It seems that you have problems of your own and I have problems of my own,”** the god offered. As of now, he had no plans on forgiving Harrison for all the shame the mortal had heaped on him. He would deal with Harrison eventually, only after Loki had milked the other man of his uses. After all, he had that dream earlier, right? Harrison was definitely going to help him—somehow.

Now, there was no hostility in their movements, just mild curiosity tinged with wariness. It was silent as they watched each other, observed and noted every single nuance of a gesture that both never did give; they were two wild leopards, sizing up potential rivals or allies. They had questions about each other and they wanted the questions answered. Harrison wondered at how Loki managed to break his advanced shackles and Loki wondered why John Harrison was so special.

 **“My first problem: I cannot escape,”** Harrison replied simply, breaking the silence with those words. He looked at the ground, almost with a melancholic air. Of course, Loki noted that. He had touched a sore subject with this mortal and Loki planned to possibly abuse that point.

 **“Care to enlighten me, mortal?”** Loki offered. Of course, he was just wheedling for information. The god knew the price of knowledge and he found that he would prefer to manipulate the mortal and prolong his suffering instead of just killing him outright. There was just more fun in that.

Harrison didn’t answer the question as if he knew what Loki had been thinking. That moment, the look of softness in his eyes chilled over again with frost as Harrison leveled his icy gaze with Loki’s and instead returned with a request. **“Show me how you broke your chains,”** he ordered coldly.

Loki couldn’t help but sigh. He assessed his magic levels and realized that energy was swiftly returning to his body, replenishing his formerly depleted stores. The god smiled as he slowly unwove the spell that disguised his true form from the naked eye.

Pulling back the sleeve of one arm, Loki offered it to Harrison as if he was having blood drawn. Slowly, the pale skin of his arm frosted over with blue. Harrison blinked at the scene, his brows knitting together as his blue eyes flicked from Loki’s skin to his mocking green eyes and then back to the god’s arm.

 **“Touch me,”** Loki beckoned, raising his chin slightly. His green eyes narrowed as he dared Harrison with a smile.

Instead of touching Loki’s arm, Harrison gave him a slightly confused frown. Loki wondered what had intrigued Harrison and then he realized that he could have phrased his order better. **“My arm,”** he clarified swiftly, his nostrils flaring just the slightest bit at this small embarrassment.

 **“You froze the metal and broke it,”** Harrison concluded without touching Loki’s skin.

 **“I do not _lie_ when I say I am a god, mortal,”** Loki replied with a thin smile. **“Now, I can _end_ your life this second, but I spare you because _you_ have something to offer me. I am happy to return the favor once you have completed your part in my designs.”**

Harrison looked up at Loki, gauging the god’s face for his true feelings but like on his own, Harrison found little emotion to be read there.

 **“And what do you want from _me_ , Loki of Asgard?” **the mortal queried, looking not the least bit flustered about having his life ended. It was better than indentured servitude to the Starfleet Admiral and sometimes, Harrison had contemplated the idea in his darkest moments until he realized that would condemn his own crew to death without Harrison’s offering of knowledge to save them.

**“An alliance.”**

Harrison took a deep breath. **“For what greater purpose?”**

Loki had prepared this during his incarceration downstairs. The god had decided that this indeed must be an alternate universe to the Nine Realms where Asgard might not have existed. Easy pickings for any god to move in and claim it as his own. However, he would need someone more acquainted with the workings of this world and Harrison fit the description to the t—cold, lean, and hungry for something that Loki could not just put his finger on right now. Keeping him alive took a large portion of his self-control. Harrison had his uses for now.

**“To rule this world.”**

A small chuckle escaped out of Harrison’s mouth as he heard Loki’s plans. Loki found himself flaring with anger again as Harrison mocked him. Instead of smiting the mortal with his divine wrath, he used what limited patience to hold himself back.

 **“A god needs help from me?”** Harrison clarified, that mocking smile dancing on his features.

Loki tried hard not to crush the bastard’s skull. Instead, he returned with a small smirk of his own. **“I do need someone to explain the workings of this world to me; you look awfully knowledgeable about it,”** Loki replied, raising his brows slightly as he offered Harrison his hand.

The mortal’s eyes were on that hand for a while as Harrison contemplated his possible future actions. Loki noted that Harrison would require some convincing. In his history as a god, Loki was no stranger to resorting to ‘lower’ methods of persuasion. After all, had he not seduced Svaðilfari? Sleipnir was proof of that and Loki found himself irked as he thought of his son under Odin’s rule. But, no matter. He had to do with what he had now.

Licking his lips slowly, Loki leaned forward, that smirk growing wider on his face. Harrison narrowed his eyes and leaned backwards, away from Loki’s advance. Seeing Harrison’s hesitation, the Asgardian reached forward with his hand, ready to clasp the back of Harrison’s head. Since regular persuasion didn’t work, Loki decided to weave a small and simple spell of enchantment on Harrison, rendering the mortal’s judgment cloudy. Loki didn’t even have to make the magic elaborate—he at least believed himself already quite attractive without any charms on his appearance: no mortal could resist him.

Oh, this would last until Loki had enough energy to perform a full conversion spell on the mortal but now, Loki wanted to be out of this place. He was rarely impatient but the prospect of kingship in this new realm was very, very attractive.

 **“What are you doing,”** Harrison stated, not even a question as his eyes narrowed in what emotion? Disbelief? He couldn’t believe this was happening and even though he had no interest in sex, he suddenly found himself strangely attracted to Loki. He did not resist as he felt Loki’s slender fingers entangle themselves in his dark hair as the god pulled him closer.

Raising a hand, he put it against Loki’s chest to stop the god from making any more moves. Harrison had never been in shock before; always calm, cool, and controlled, he hated the feeling of his heart thudding harder against his ribcage and the train of thoughts in his mind derailing as he tried to make sense of the situation.

**“No.”**

**“Oh, John Harrison—do not disobey me now,”** Loki replied, letting a slight growl slide into the last few words of his command as he pulled Harrison’s hand away from his chest and leaned closer so that their breaths mingled. **“We are cut from the same cloth, you and I.”**

Harrison found his reply smothered by Loki’s lips and the last thing he found himself wondering about before the god pulled his mind into a sea of blazing passion was if Starfleet had hidden cameras in the laboratory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourself for manlove next chapter
> 
> updates probably won't be so quick for the next few chapters. thanks for the kudos and i love you all


	5. The Once and Future Kings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think I know enough of hate

Loki couldn’t help but chuckle at the other man’s darting glances. **“Please, Harrison—if they were watching, they would have already known about me,”** the god purred as he hungrily kissed at Harrison’s lips. The fingers of one hand held onto the back of the mortal’s head, holding Harrison there as Loki’s other hand smoothed the fabric on his back.

Making a half-hearted push at Loki, Harrison found himself trying to twist his head away. When Loki’s hand pressed down on his back, he almost tore the god off him but something about Loki just held him there, mesmerized, as if he was the prey of a venomous cobra.

When was the last time he had sex? He honestly could not remember—he had never been provided companions by the Starfleet and he could surely say that sex was the last thing on his mind during the Eugenics War. It had been a long time and when Loki slipped off his robes and pressed his chest against Harrison’s, the ex-tyrant couldn’t help but place one hand on Loki’s bottom. Did he want this right now? _Yes_.

This elicited a thin, sleepy smile from the god who whispered, **“You don’t seem to be quite the _virgin_ , mortal.” **

Harrison didn’t even respond for once and Loki’s smirk widened.

Then, Loki pressed his forehead against Harrison’s as he pushed against the other man, maneuvering Harrison onto the more comfortable location of on the couch. The god threw shirt onto the table as they passed it and when Harrison felt Loki’s hard crotch grind into him, he couldn’t help but allow a soft moan to escape his lips. Loki’s mouth twitched into a grin again at his reaction and the god reached forward to kiss again, sucking on Harrison’s lower lip in a teasing fashion.

The heat was exquisite as Harrison felt its flaming spread sending a thrill down his spine. Before long, Harrison was guiding Loki underneath him and he found himself appreciating the silkiness of Loki’s shoulder-length hair. Then, all these thoughts flew out of Harrison’s mind as Loki gently stroked his hands over Harrison’s crotch. A sharp intake of breath followed this movement as Harrison felt Loki’s fingers hitch over the waistband of the mortal’s pants. Then, Loki pushed upwards so that they were both in sitting positions, just close enough for their noses to touch each other.

A small smile appeared on Loki’s features again. **“Do I hear a please, mortal?”** the god queried before he found Harrison’s iron grip on his chin jerking his head downwards. Loki was mildly surprised as he found himself crotch-level but the shock melted into mild amusement as the god worked Harrison’s pants and underclothing down to his knees. Loki took Harrison into his mouth and he found himself enjoying Harrison’s hand squeezing his shoulders as Loki ran his tongue along his erection.

How long had it really been? Harrison didn’t even mind that it was with a man right now. Numbers and years flew out of his head as Loki sucked. Yes, he was sexually deprived.

**“Oh, _God_.”**

**“And I thought you didn’t believe in gods, Harrison,”** Loki answered as he turned his attention away. Laying back again, he drew Harrison down on top of him. After wriggling slightly, teasingly, as he pulled off his own trousers, Loki began to stroke Harrison rhythmically. It seemed that Harrison had little idea how to please a man outside of himself and Loki found himself somewhat disappointed. That feeling quickly faded away as he elicited a soft groan from Harrison who sounded like he had just been stabbed.

Loki was much better than most of the women he had ever been with; Harrison found himself wryly musing the fact that Loki (if he was indeed a god) most likely had centuries’ worth of practice as he felt himself grind against Loki’s own hard erection. The friction was unbearable and Harrison clenched his jaws tightly to stop himself from crying out again.

They felt each other tensing up as they neared the breaking point and though Loki tried his best to draw it out longer, they reached it sooner than he expected. Loki bit his lip but he couldn’t help but allow a small whimper of pleasure to escape his mouth as he felt hot liquid on his flat belly. Despite the fact that he had barely received any stimulation, Loki found himself coming soon after too, allowing his fingers to clench tighter against Harrison’s back. He found himself a touch confused in a post-coital daze as he pondered this point.

The mortal had really left a deeper impression on him than he would have thought possible.

 

* * *

 

Loki had lovers before. Attraction wasn’t something new to him though attraction to a mortal was quite novel. He found himself watching Harrison as the man moved about his laboratory. A small, lazy smile smoothed itself onto Loki’s lips as he went over the most recent events.

After their brief sexual escapade on the couch, they had laid against each other for a bit before Harrison reached for a hand-towel and wiped them both down with none of the savagery he had displayed before. Leaving Loki on the couch, Harrison had hitched up his trousers again and draped a throw blanket over the god’s slim, naked form before moving off to work again.

Silver-blue eyes found Loki’s emerald gaze and the god cocked his head slightly as he wondered what Harrison wanted with him. There was a muted expression of caution on the mortal’s face as he watched Loki from over the hull of one of his torpedoes.

**“You could’ve killed me. Why not?”**

**“I told you, mortal, I have more reason to keep you alive than dead,”**   Loki replied with an exasperated air as he twisted around on the couch and stretched, letting the blanket fall off one lean arm. That was more of a lie now; Loki was mildly—no, very—intrigued with Harrison.

 **“If you’re the god you claim to be, you do not need my help in conquering this world,”** Harrison replied with a small snort before he began fiddling with the wiring inside the torpedo. Loki’s anger flared again as he frowned slightly. It looked like Harrison needed a bit more of convincing in addition to the revealing of Loki’s Ice Giant heritage and sex.

Loki raised an arm again, an irritated expression on his face. **“See that piece of metal, mortal?”** he directed, pointing his finger at a small piece of scrap left on the rubbish bins. Harrison’s blue eyes slid over to where Loki was pointing. Smiling, Loki muttered a low incantation underneath his breath and he held up the metal up between two fingers.

Openly grinning now, Loki turned to look at Harrison again only to find the first real, raw emotion stamped on the man’s once frosty features. A small point of…worry?...twitched into being in Loki’s mind but that faded away back into subconsciousness again as Harrison’s face forced itself back into its normal tight-lipped glare.

 **“You can teleport objects,”** Harrison stated.

**“Yes, obviously. I am a _god_ after all.”**

Harrison’s brows knitted together as his mind began calculating again. If Loki could teleport objects…

**“Over long distance?”**

**“A simple spell, mortal.”**

Finding a lump in his throat, Harrison allowed a small smile to crack across his lips. Having Loki there would definitely further his previous plans. He had been preparing to smuggle his sleeping crew away from Marcus by hiding them in the weapons he designed but he hadn’t wrapped his mind around a process to acquire the cryogenic capsules without being discovered by the Admiral.

 **“I will help you under one condition,”** Harrison declared as he fixed his icy gaze onto Loki again.

Loki almost rolled his eyes as he glared back at Harrison. **“After all this?”** he replied slyly, gesturing to himself. However, before Harrison could retort, Loki continued, **“It depends on what more you want, mortal.”**

Harrison’s next words were delivered quickly. **“I want you to transport 72 cryogenic capsules to this laboratory.”**

Loki’s eyes narrowed. He considered putting Harrison under mesmer again so that the mortal would be more compliant. Sighing, he pulled the blanket off and began hunting for his trousers. Finding them discarded on a table, he pulled them up his legs as he looked up at Harrison and finally said, **“What _for_?”**

**“You don’t need to know.”**

**“I won’t do it unless I know _why_ , mortal.”**

Harrison’s nostrils flared slightly as he thought over his options. What else could he exactly do?

 **“Research purposes,”** he answered.

Frowning, Loki pulled himself up after finishing with dressing himself. Cocking a brow, he read Harrison’s expression more easily than he had been able to before. Had he found a weak point?

 **“You’re lying, Harrison,”** Loki answered back in a low hiss of annoyance. He noted that Harrison did tense up again.

So there was no other choice. Harrison’s only weakness was in concern with his crew; otherwise, he would have been long gone from here. The man looked up again at Loki as he placed some tangled wires onto his workbench.

**“This isn’t the first lie I’ve told you, Loki. John Harrison is a fictitious mask the Starfleet created for me. My name is Khan.”**

* * *

 

 **“The capsules contain all that remains of my people,”** Harrison—no, Khan—answered, his voice much softer now than before. The only people who had clung to him to the end because of their undying devotion to their leader. He could picture the last gathering he had before them when he received the message that branded all of them, this new breed of people on his ship and on Earth, from the oldest elder to the youngest child as war criminals.

It was unreasonable to Khan that all of them should take the blame for a crime that many of them had not committed. Thus, Harrison was left with no choice except to point the spaceship away from Earth and everything he had known and missed and loved achingly so and send all of them to cryogenic sleep in hopes that they would wake up in another age where they could live in peace.

Surprised by the sudden display of emotion, Loki wondered if it was all a trick to lull him. Loki had no need for connections to anyone now that he decided he would only work alone, exploiting others when he needed to. To find such a cold, hard individual as Khan caring for something shocked and disappointed the god.

 **“You are sentimental,”** Loki laughed. The tables had turned for the god right now. Instead of Khan mocking him, it was he who was mocking Khan. **“Tell me about yourself then, Khan. Why do you hold these people with such value?”**

Khan made his way towards Loki, seating himself on a chair as he leaned back, closing his eyes as he pulled up his memories. **“My people were genetically engineered to be better than humans so we could wage a war to end all wars,”** he began in a low melodic tremor. **“Our goal was to conquer them and establish peace but instead, I discovered that jealousy was not programmed out of us. I, the leader, was deposed and my _successors_ ended up mass murdering humans for their new world order. **

**“Our people divided and scattered as more factions split off. I ended up protecting who I could by taking them to space while the others were hunted down and exterminated by the humans. The new government allowed us to live outside of Earth on our ship in peace but once the former generals of the previous regime were brought to trial and convicted of genocide, all of us, including the innocents, were branded as war criminals and to be killed. Now that I could not return to earth, I put them all, including myself into cryogenic sleep in hopes that we could wake up in a better time or planet.**

**“Alas, this was not to be. Admiral Marcus of the Starfleet discovered my ship and woke up one person: me. He held the rest of my crew hostage and demanded that I design him weapons in preparation for a war he wanted against the Klingons. And here I am, now, Loki of Asgard, asking you to free my crew from him. In return, you have my allegiance.”**

Hiding his surprise, Loki raised his green eyes. Khan certainly had a much more interesting story than Loki had ever bargained for. A tight smile appeared on his lips as his silver tongue slid into action smoothly as ever.

**“I accept.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that was the first /smut/ scene i wrote so i am gomen
> 
> i took some liberties with khan's past--i only knew him from STID and created a history based on what i learned from that. sorry if it offends anyone ^^'


	6. Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To say that for destruction ice

It had been three days since he had fallen through the cracks of the worlds and landed himself in Khan’s lair. Most of those three days had been filled with Khan fiddling with his ‘computers’ and hacking into the Starfleet database to search for where his crew was held and Loki preparing his part of the plan. Khan had declared that it would take some time for the computers to pinpoint that specific piece of information but Loki had never imagined it would take days.

Pitiful. Like the fact that Khan was locked in such dreadful things such as sentiments. If he was free of that, Loki could almost imagine him as the worthiest ally or the most dangerous enemy. Probably the latter if that was the case, but Khan was a good ally now that Loki knew how to abuse his weak point. His crew.

Helping himself to some bread from the kitchen, Loki found himself stiffening slightly as he heard a beep from the computer. As he turned, Khan was already bent over the keyboards, his blue eyes locked onto the screen. Loki slid over as he bit into the slice of bread. He had learned a bit about computers during his time here but he still found himself mystified by the columns and rows of meaningless numbers and letters strung together.

 **“ _London_. They didn’t even bother to move them from the same city I am in** ,” Khan hissed, his face suddenly eager. His eyes scanned the numbers and letters. **“Not more than a _mile_ from here. My, Marcus is confident.”**

 **“I would need know the exact place they are at if I am to transport them here,”** Loki remarked as he brushed crumbs off his hands. Ah, finally, something to break up his time here. Performing little magic tricks for the mortal definitely got boring after one day. Of course, he always had more spells he could show off but he wanted to have sufficient energy to perform other magic if the occasion rose.

Khan looked at Loki before turning back to the screen. His fingers tapped on the keyboard as he pulled up a live security feed of an empty hallway. **“The capsules are stored in the room at the end of his hallway,”** he stated, gesturing towards the stream. **“Hopefully, all 72 of them, if the records are correct.”**

 **“What’s the plan, Khan?”** Loki continued, meticulously sweeping the crumbs off the table onto his hand for future disposal.

Snorting with amusement, Khan collapsed against the chair, swiveling it to face Loki. **“I am sure that you can think of something,”** he replied evenly.

 **“Walk in, teleport out,”** the god smiled as he headed towards the rubbish bin. Tipping his hand, he allowed the fine remnants of his small snack to slip down among the other trash.

 **“Shall we begin?”** the ex-tyrant continued, folding his hands on his laps as he lifted his eyes from the screen and onto Loki’s face.

A small imperceptible smile slowly fixed itself onto Loki’s mouth. **“Let’s.”**

* * *

 

The hallway was white and pristine, clean-cut and sleek like most modern décor. It was spartanly furnished with just a camera at one end of the passage, its electronic eye fixated on the door that contained the remnants of Khan’s people.

Loki did not know the exact location of the stronghold and so, Khan had directed him towards the Starfleet Archives and drawn him a map of the building so that the god could better find his way to the location of the capsules. From his previous experience with teleportation, he could only teleport to and from places he had been before. Green eyes scanning the sketch, Loki had noted that his final destination was on the fifth basement floor of the vast underground complex. It would be quite a walk.

Weaving invisibility over himself, Loki had slipped out of Khan’s lab during one of the Admiral’s visits. Loki was amused by the fact that this simple human could keep creatures such as Khan enslaved. Again, it went back to sentimentality. Attachments should be burned away and cast off like the burden they are.

After meandering his way through the twisting corridors of this building, it had been an easy task to locate the Archives. Loki was confident and had even chosen to cast off his usual Asgardian wear and invisibility to disguise himself in the sleek fashion of the modern times. He had to admit that the current trends were definitely comfortable and stylish and Loki found himself enjoying the feel of the silky fabric against his skin.

Passing through London, he had found himself amazed by the leaps that the humans of this universe had taken. Towering skyscrapers were colossi of metal and glass that reflected pinpoints of light into the eyes of those who stared for too long. The streets were clean and free of filth, unlike most of Asgard’s which were often covered with refuse for most of the night before the dawn cleaning crew magicked the waste away.

He had spotted the Archive building again and smiled thinly as he moved to an area behind a monument. Leaning against it, Loki had muttered his spell of concealment again and disappeared from the naked eye. There, with the map as a guide, Loki had arrived in the final hallway.

Walking down the pristine stretch of the passage, Loki found himself peering through the windows of the doors as he wondered what the Starfleet had behind these locked entrances. Many of the rooms contained old documents, stored away to never see the light of day. Others contained records of experiments past and even Loki himself was slightly disgusted by some of products of those illicit, artificial investigations: deformed fetuses and abnormal creatures never meant by nature.

Finally, the last door. Loki wasn’t too keen on allowing the guards to know of his presence if he destroyed the locking mechanism. Luckily, magic provided an alternative. Still under his invisibility spell, Loki began muttering the incantations to another enchantment. He began stepping forward and melded into the door before appearing from the other side.

When he did, he couldn’t help but allow a small gasp to escape his mouth. The cryogenic capsules were indeed there, lined up in neat rows and columns on the floor. Loki made his way to the closest capsules and peered into the glass that separated him from the human beings sleeping within. There, he saw the wizened visage of an older man, a sparse and frosty white beard covering his jaws.  The next capsule contained the rugged face of another male, his brows seemingly creased into a permanent frown. One more down contained the small body of a child, looking like a frozen cherub trapped in its metal tomb. The last capsule he investigated contained nothing and Loki assumed that this was Khan’s.

Loki moved towards the back of the storage room, pacing among the capsules. From his inspection, it looked like all 72 capsules were there, minus the empty one that had held Khan. Spreading his arms, Loki closed his eyes and began whispering incantations again. A blue-green glow enveloped the capsules while Loki pictured the room where he had been held in with all the torpedoes. When he opened his eyes again, he felt considerably more tired but it was done. All that was left of the capsules were dust-free areas that outlined and traced where the icy coffins had once been deposited.

A job well done. Loki’s form flickered and disappeared.

 

* * *

 

When Loki came back, he found Khan rushing from capsule to capsule in the torpedo room which had been tidied for their arrival. Each torpedo was set next to a capsule and provided a sleek white contrast to the dull, gray metal of the antiquated caskets. The god couldn’t help but smile as he noticed Khan’s smirk curving those full lips.

 **“Yesugei, Arslan, Sorkha, Tsubodai…they’re all here,”** Khan concluded. **“All 72.”** The ex-tyrant was lingering over the capsule of a couple of the people, expressions twitching onto his face as he viewed old but familiar faces. Loki noted that he paused for a longer time over the body of the old, bearded man.

Patience wearing thin, the god decided to step into the next part of the plan. **“Are you ready for me to teleport us all out then, Khan?”** Loki inquired. Instead of Khan deciding to smuggle the capsules out, they had both planned to use Loki’s teleporting powers to full effect in bringing them to out of the underground complex.

 **“Help me put them inside,”** Khan ordered. Loki did not move an inch as he watched the mortal work tirelessly, fitting each capsule into the snug compartment that Khan had especially designed to hold them. After a few minutes of working in stony silence, Khan threw Loki a frosty glare.

**“Do that a—“**

**“Do you want to get out of here?”**

Loki suppressed a roll of his eyes and began to handle the capsules into the weapons as well.

Nothing was wasted on a toast or any sort of ritual denoting their small little victory except to stand back and view their final handiwork.

**“Thank you.”**

Loki turned, slightly amused by Khan’s response. **“Kneel, Khan, and swear your allegiance to me,”** the god ordered. Well, now that he had finished his part of the plan, it was only fitting that the mortal did his piece as well. Khan was definitely an amusing diversion but the mortal had grown into something a bit more than that in the time Loki had spent with him in this underground laboratory.

Khan’s blue eyes locked with Loki’s as he got on his knees, lowering his head down and then shifting his gaze to the ground. Though he would swear his allegiance, he found himself loyally involved to the bond despite the fact that he was not averse to breaking oaths and such promises during his reign previously. What was this? Pushing those thoughts out of his head, Khan began intoning the words, **“I, Khan Noonien Singh, swear my allegiance to you, Loki of Asgard.”**

A smile appeared on Loki’s lips as he reached down to pull the mortal up again and embrace him a hug. Closing his eyes, he wanted to revel the moment.

 

* * *

 

Far away in another universe, through the dimensions and chasms of wormholes and the like, Odin’s eyes opened.

Since the day that Loki fell, Odin had wanted to let things lay the way they were. If Loki wanted to be left alone or was indeed dead, that was his choice and Odin was not going to interfere as long as his adopted son was quiet or in the grave. However, Frigga and Thor had been distraught. Odin’s wife begged him to look for Loki and bring their son back home to Asgard, despite the fact that his adopted son may not exactly want to be back in the shining halls. Thus, Odin had remarked that Loki most likely had fallen through the wormhole created by the destruction of the Bifrost and he was somewhere else.

Once Loki had committed that mass teleportation spell, the sudden increase in the flux of magic alerted the Allfather of Loki’s exact location across the universes. The necessary magic he had to conjure would definitely drain him.

 **“He is not in the Nine Realms anymore,”** Odin stated as he rose up from his seat. Frigga rose to touch his arm, her concerned eyes on her husband.

 **“What do you mean by that, father?”** Thor queried as he rose up to his feet from the chair he had been sitting in. Every day was a vigil by Odin’s side since the Allfather had collapsed to their wishes of bringing Loki back to Asgard.

Odin frowned slightly. **“There are other universes beyond that of what we know,”** he began. Turning towards Frigga and Thor again, he lowered his head slightly. **“Shall I bring him back?”**

There was a silence as Thor looked to Frigga. Frigga’s mouth was tight-lipped as she nodded. With a heavy sigh, Odin picked up his staff and set one end on the ground as he clutched it like a support. Closing his eyes, the Allfather began muttering the spell as his staff began glowing with a brilliant aurum light.

 

* * *

 

Loki knew something was wrong when he felt hard metal against his chin. Khan had been wearing nothing of that sort, only the usual formfitting clothing issued by the Starfleet. Then, something prickly rubbed against his cheek. Stubble? And the smell. The _light._

 **“ _No_ ,”** Loki drew back away from Thor, horrified, stricken by the fact that he was back in stupid, _fucking_ Asgard again. He didn’t want to be here. No, he should be back in the room with Khan and they should be on their way to world domination. This just wasn’t how it was supposed to _be_.

His green eyes swept the room, meeting the gazes of Odin, Thor, and finally Frigga, the only one he could possibly honestly say that he cared for to some degree. **“What am I doing back _here_?”** Loki hissed, unable to keep the venom out of his voice.

Odin merely pursed his lip as his single eye turned to look at Thor and Frigga.

 **“Are you not joyous to be back, brother?”** Thor queried, his brows frowning. Of course the thick oaf couldn’t read expressions and realize that he could answer that question himself: Loki was indeed not happy to be back in Asgard.

Meanwhile, Frigga reached forward and attempted to fold Loki into her embrace. Before her arms touched him, Loki backed away, shaking his head **. “Go…away. I don’t belong here. I never did belong here, so why did you bring me back to Asgard?!”** he shouted, his eyes blazing with rage. **“I was never happy here, Thor. Do you really think I can bear to live under your shadow again? _Anyone’s_ shadow? I was _king_!”**

With that, Loki tore out of the palace, his feet thumping against the ground as he rushed through the causeway. His mind was racing but it pointed him in one direction: towards where the Bifrost had been.

 

* * *

 

Khan stared at the room in disbelief but the cold hard truth was that Loki was gone. The god had abandoned him here with no exact way of escaping. It looked like he had to default on his previous plan of smuggling the torpedoes out as weapons before hijacking them again. What else could he expect from the god of tricks and lies?

He headed up the stairs and pursed his lips as he noted a guard checking the rooms of the passageway on the feed he had pulled up earlier on the computer. Life just got a bit more complicated for him. Khan tore his gaze away from the screen and he could imagine the look of shock on the guard’s face as he realized that the cryogenic capsules were gone. He could imagine the guard alerting his superiors that the capsules were gone. He could imagine the guards coming down to arrest himself and demanding to know why the capsules were gone.

When Khan opened his eyes, he swiveled his chair around to face Admiral Marcus as he entered.

**“Welcome, Admiral.”**

**“Where are they?”**

Khan did not respond.

The ex-tyrant did not resist as he felt the Admiral’s guards seize him and hurry him out of the complex to a holding cell.

 

* * *

 

 

Thor was hot on his heels and Loki pushed aside the laborers working to restore the Bifrost. A couple of them yelled at him but he swept them aside in his mad scramble to reach the edge. He paused there at the jagged end and stared at the drop to nothingness. Turning his gaze back towards the city, he spotted Thor’s bulky form among the workers.

 **“Think this through, brother! You are forgiven!”** the Thunder God roared as he pleaded with his adopted brother. Then, his tone softened. **“We have missed you. Come home to us.”**

Loki’s face was stiff as if he was carved out of marble. **“This is not my home,”** he stated. **“This was never my home. I belong to no place at all. May your _reign_ be golden and happy.”**

He stepped off towards the edge, letting one foot hang over the drop into the unknown again.

**“Good bye, Thor.”**

Loki did not hear Thor’s shout of grief as he dropped.


	7. Parallel Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> is also great

Loki didn’t die, but this time, he didn’t have a wormhole to transport him to another place. Using the last of his magic again, he teleported himself to Midgard, in the middle of the Swedish wilderness. All was quiet and icy in a land gripped by winter and Loki found his eyes moist. He raised a hand touch his eye, half in disbelief.

It was the wind, he told himself.

 

* * *

 

 

Khan was whiling away his time in the cell. Marcus had discovered the capsules and had merely threatened him again. The Admiral’s words fell upon deaf ears as Khan planned his escape. His crew was at Marcus’ mercy but unless the Admiral wanted a vengeful superhuman wreaking havoc without check in this world, he would never destroy the capsules and instead use them as bait.

Thus, while they were transporting him in a vehicle to a new holding facility, Khan sprung into action, snapping a guard’s neck with a quick jerk of his arms. Marcus was foolish, thinking that they could contain him with only a paltry amount of guards. Five, to be exact, but now, the number was drastically reduced to zero.

Rubbing a rapidly fading bruise on his cheek sustained when one of them had resisted, Khan hauled the prone bodies into the prisoner’s holding area of the vehicle before threatening the driver out of the seat with a gun he had taken from the guards. After the driver had been evicted, Khan killed him with a quick shot to the head and left him on the floor of the cockpit.

I will have my revenge, he told himself.

 

* * *

 

 

During his sojourn on Earth, Loki found his mind wandering back to Khan day and night. He couldn’t help but think about what had become of the human in the other world. He had to know what happened to Khan and the worry nagged him relentlessly.

Thus, Loki had set on a plan on retrieving Khan back somehow. He had little idea about what magic Odin had conjured to transport beings across universes and found himself closing his eyes and searching his memories for some piece of information. Loki was well-read in ancient texts, having combed through the libraries of Asgard for knowledge and he found himself thinking about a certain artifact called the Tesseract that had mysteriously disappeared from Odin’s treasure vaults many hundreds of years ago. It was said to be the source of unlimited energy and had powers to bend space to one’s will.

How did it work? Loki did not know, but the god had fixated his sights on the artifact.

After some weeks of using his wiles to access libraries and poring over old records in the human archives, Loki found little trace of the Tesseract outside of the fact that some human faction known as H.Y.D.R.A. had taken hold of it before it mysteriously disappeared again during a human war. He had found no mention of it since that day four weeks ago.

Dead end.

Frustrated, Loki found himself retreating back to the wild fastness of the North again. There, while he was settling in for the night, he found himself sucked into a strange landscape of broken rock and black night sky that held too many stars.

Then, the sound of movement.

Loki’s head jerked upwards in surprise to view a hunched creature clutching a staff approaching him from behind a rock. There, behind this being were many, many more creatures, though they lacked the cloak their apparent leader donned to reveal their insectoid bodies. Chittering and clicking among themselves while in their formations, the aliens didn’t make any other movements that surprised or alarmed the wary god.

 **“Who are you? Why have you brought me here?”** Loki snapped, his voice querulous with indignation. Who were they to transport him to this bleak land? He wanted to be back in the boreal forests he had made his home. Fitting lair for an ice giant.

 **“We are the Chitauri,”** the creature stated as he approached Loki. The Asgardian found himself raising his hands, ready to blast magic at the alien.

**“Peace with you, young god. We know you search for the Tesseract.”**

Loki’s brows knitted together as he dropped his arms. **“And why does it interest _you_?”** he queried in reply. Why had they searched him out for this?

**“We know you seek out the Tesseract to create a portal. We seek it for similar reasons and we wish to own it permanently. Thus, we require your assistance.”**

A small twinge of annoyance entered Loki’s mind. How did they know about his goals? He quickly shielded the thought and looked at the alien. **“And for helping, what will I get in return?”**

The alien smiled, the smirk slowly forming on his gray lips. **“We will offer you the use of our army to rule Earth, your Midgard.”**

Loki found himself back in his forest hideout. He had always been there, it seemed, and only his mind was grabbed and pulled to that distant world in the twisting nether of space. However, the voice of the Chitauri was still in his mind and as he opened his eyes again, he could hear it echoing all around.

**“We will make you king.”**

 

* * *

 

 

During the time when Loki was making the deal with the Chitauri, a man woke up in London universes away. It was 5:00 AM and the alarm clock was ringing. Reaching over, he turned it off as his dog reached up onto the bed to lick his nose before shuffling about to sit and grin with a lolling tongue. He lifted himself laboriously out of bed and his eyes met that of his wife who stroked the dog’s head lying against her. Both husband and wife bore solemn expressions.

Today, this morning, the couple cruised down the busy streets of London to the Royal Children’s Hospital on the outskirts of the great metropolis. Entering the building, the doctor was already there to greet them. Time slowed as the doctor stated his prognosis and the man hung his head in disbelief and defeat. No, not _their_ daughter…

His wife was crying already as they entered her room. The girl’s face was pale and unmoving in the sleeping thrall of the sickness. He turned away, unable to look at the grief etched onto his wife’s features as she replaced the stuffed giraffe held by his daughter’s arms with a plush rabbit. Reaching down to kiss her, his wife continued in crying, holding onto their daughter’s hand as she sobbed her grief out in the tears that trickled down her unflawed skin.

The man found his own eyes moist as he watched the scene. She had been healthy a week earlier! Why couldn’t he have done anything to prevent such an outcome? Jaws set, he turned away to brood over the problem, his wife’s cries tearing holes into his already broken heart. Making his way to the balcony, he leaned over it, staring at the hill that sloped down to the street below. Closing his eyes, he wondered how far he had to drop…

**“I can save her.”**

He had not heard the steps and the man turned, his eyes widening in surprise as he beheld the strange but formidable looking individual behind him. Disbelief was etched on the man’s features as he answered, **“What did you say?”**

The man blinked once but otherwise, his face was immobile.

**“Your daughter…I can save her.”**

 

* * *

 

 

And so he found himself hurled into the events that landed him with the Tesseract, stolen from the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Loki paced the laboratory restlessly as he watched Dr. Eric Selvig work. He had been patient again, waiting for the good doctor to learn how to stabilize the device but like before, he found his patience wearing thin. The god sat down moodily on a crate, allowing his staff to rest across his lap as he closed his eyes.

_And what are you doing now, Khan? Have you saved your people yet? Or are you dead?_

After some time, Dr. Selvig’s voice cut across his thoughts. **“I think you should see this,”** he called to Loki.

Frowning, Loki rose reluctantly. The previous times Selvig had asked for him resulted in nothing but requests. He was missing this and he was missing that and Loki and his new pet Agent Clint Barton had to go fetch it for him. Loki was getting tired of the game and considering on killing Selvig and finding someone else to finish the job more efficiently.

Selvig had an excited expression on his face as he tapped away at the keyboard. As Loki approached, the physicist pointed at the screen with one index finger. **“I think we’ve made a breakthrough,”** Dr. Selvig stated, his voice edged with excitement.

Finally. Loki offered a fake smile. **“Pray tell.”**

**“The Tesseract seems to be emitting energy in pulses…almost like a human heart. It’s been beating in that same rhythm since we’ve hooked it up to the power supply. The more energy we need, the harder it seems to beat…”**

The god raised a brow, beckoning the physicist to continue.

Licking his lips as he smiled, Dr. Selvig nodded at Loki. **“It has the capability to create a portal now, though it needs to be stabilized.”**

 **“Portal? I want to test it out right now,”** Loki replied, his voice more eager than before. **“How does it work?”**

Selvig ignored Loki’s inquiry and continued on to ramble, **“It’s almost like a living thing. It responds to y—“**

 **“How does it work, mortal?”** Loki hissed, surging forward as he slammed his hands down rather forcefully to grab the physicist’s shoulders. There was a look of surprise on Dr. Selvig’s face and Loki could almost see his mesmer falling away from the watery blue eyes. However, Selvig turned back to the keyboard and looked at the computer screen again.

 **“The Tesseract seems to be able to fixate on your memories—it opens portals to places that you are thinking of,”** the scientist answered quickly. **“We’ll need iridium so we can stabilize the machine before it can create any portals. Not only that, we’re also missing a few key minerals.”**

 **“I want to use it now,”** the god demanded, leaning forward keenly. He pulled Selvig aside and held his hands in front of the glowing blue cube as if warming himself over a fire. Closing his eyes, Loki fixated on Khan’s face, hoping that the cube would bring him to where Khan was but to no avail. The Tesseract just continued to pulse its sapphire aura, unfeeling and removed from this world.

Loki found his hands grinding into fists. **“Get the iridium. Now.”**

 

* * *

 

 

And so he found himself in the cockpit of the assault helicopter after having declared a one-man war on Starfleet.

In the days following his escape, Khan was more intent on trying to conceal himself from the government hunting him and planning on how to get his crew in a safe place. Back to sleep for him and out into space again, it looked like—this was not a good time for them, especially after all he will do.

Loki was a footnote in his mind though Khan found himself thinking about the other man frequently. Leaning back against the chair in the cockpit, he closed his eyes briefly as he directed the vehicle towards the Starfleet headquarters of San Francisco. It didn’t make sense to Khan that Loki would just leave without Khan finishing his job, his part of their deal. Then again, the magic he had been introduced to by the god never made sense either.

Folding his hands into what could be considered a praying position as he sat back, Khan rested his chin on his thumbs as he watched the city shift underneath him. He could see the beacon that was the headquarters and a grim smile slipped onto his face as his cold blue eyes fixated on the tower framed by the night horizon.

**“Starfleet headquarters to Arapaho X-31, what is your destination?”**

The female voice barked from the speakers and interrupted his thoughts. Khan blinked his blue eyes as he absorbed the information and replied with carefully prepared words. **“Arapaho X-31, returning to hangar from training maneuvers,”** he answered slowly as he watched the tower loom closer and closer.

 **“Arapaho X-31, you are cleared for landing,”** the woman replied before she clicked her connection closed.

The smile on his face tightened as he spotted the floor where the highest Starfleet officers were gathered. He could pick out each individual face and recognized many of them from times where Marcus had brought John Harrison to conduct a quick conference on modifications to some of the starships. And there he was: Admiral Alexander Marcus.

Khan reassured himself quickly by touching the bracelet on his wrist. He had commandeered a spaceship and had flown himself to the Klingon homeworld where he had built a transporter device. Once he needed to leave the scene, the transporter would bear the wearer of the bracelet to where it was. Modern technology was too useful sometimes.

His brows knitted together as his jaws set stiffly with his teeth tight against each other. Narrowing his eyes, he aimed the weapons of the assault helicopter onto Admiral Marcus and pressed the trigger. His teeth bared slightly, Khan hissed, **“This is _war_.”**


	8. Terminus?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And would suffice

Loki jerked himself back to the present as blinding pain filled the side of his face. The Chitauri were getting a bit more forceful in their demands and frankly he did not like the fact that they were bossing him around. After all, what were they to him? He was the one using them! Not them using him!

Clutching his staff, he found his fingers tightening around the handle, his pale eyes slowly turning back towards the scene of the hustle and bustle that was the laboratory. It had been a week since Loki had attempted to make a portal and Dr. Selvig updated him with tantalizing reports that the machine was close to functional now.

Perhaps it was time for another attempt again.

Sighing, the god rose from a crate and his temporary throne and pushed his way into the room that housed the machine. Selvig was on break at the moment and Loki deemed it a perfect time to test the powers of the Tesseract.

Closing his eyes again, he focused on the figure of Khan. Tall, brooding, intimidating. All sharp angles and steel eyes. Pursing his lips, he continued to concentrate on the image, his hands over the Tesseract. He didn’t feel anything different.

Suddenly, the cry of one of the scientists tore his train of thoughts to shreds. Loki was ready to turn and smite the unfortunate soul but instead, he realized they were surprised at the small portal that had just been created.

Loki could barely hide his smile so he clenched his jaws and ran a tongue across his lips briefly as he peered closer at the shadowy world beyond the portal framed by gleaming edges of fluctuating blue.

 **“Do not follow me,”** he ordered, his voice a hiss. Then, sweeping his robes back, he took the step into the unknown.

 

For the moment, he thought that the portal was mistaken. Loki had been brought to the wrong place. The entire room was shadowy and dark and he could see nothing but black shapes among the dim gloom. Frowning slightly Loki allowed his eyes to adjust and his pupils dilated while he murmured a spell and a green flame flickered to life in his hand.

He realized he was in the right place. There were capsules. Lined up against the walls like coffins. Loki supposed they were meant to be coffins. The Starfleet must have recovered them from Khan and Loki found himself slightly disappointed by the turn of events. The mortal had his toys taken from him! Perhaps it was for a purpose. Loki would have to go find Khan now. The thought that the mortal might have his own agenda never crossed his mind.

Loki began making his way towards the entrance, casting an invisibility spell over himself so he would not be seen. However, something caught his eye and Loki couldn’t help but frown as he saw a familiar face underneath the frosted pane of one of the capsules.

Khan was in there, his features carved like the ice he was frozen in.

The god was dumbstruck for a second as he took in the scope of things. Khan had been captured? For a moment, his cold logic told Loki that he should just leave the mortal there. He wasn’t really worthy if he got captured was he? But then, something else urged him to bring the man out.

Loki was stuck in indecision and he stood there as if frozen like all the others in this room.

Suddenly and finally, Loki leaned down and his fingers scrabbled for a hold on the capsule. Finding the edge of the capsule door, the god grimaced slightly in the exertion of tearing the steel apart with his bare hands. Cold air blasted him and his robes flew back as Loki lifted Khan out from the frozen casket and bore him back to the portal.

 

* * *

 

 

Khan had never felt so cold in his life, not even when he first was put to sleep all those years ago in that ship. The only thing that kept him from screaming out loud and tearing himself to pieces was the warmth of memory; the low embers of compassion as he led his people and the burning hot vengeance of his rage towards his enemies. Flashes of his life flitted through the screen provided by his mind and it continued in a chronological progression up until he was frozen again.

Then he woke up.

The ex-tyrant’s silver eyes flashed open suddenly as he instantly lifted himself out of whatever he had been laying on. Something held him to the bed and Khan saw the medical equipment hooked up to his body. It looked archaic and he found himself frowning, wondering if all the events from his dethroning to his adventures with Captain Kirk and Spock were nothing more than a figment of his imagination caused by traumatic injury.

Though it was dark, it took little time for the superhuman’s eyes to adjust to the gloom. He picked out people scurrying about, scavenging it seems. Talks of how Loki’s plan failed and now how everyone was saving themselves from a metaphorical sinking ship.

No, everything had happened.

Khan tore the oxygen mask off his face and the plastic tube from his mouth. He pulled the electrical wires that were hooked up to sensors on his chest and swung his legs off the bed, steadying himself by clutching at the walls.

As a passing technician ran by, Khan’s hand shot out and seized the man. **“Where am I?”** he snapped, his face twisted into a snarl as his pale eyes locked with that of the terrified man.

 **“You’re in Philadelphia,”** he whimpered back. A frown passed the man’s expression. **“Aren’t you the man in the coma?”**

Khan’s eyes narrowed. Loki had somehow managed to bring him to his world? Or was he still in the universe of the accursed Starfleet? **“What year is it?”** he continued, his voice a low, threatening tremor.

 **“2012, sir,”** he stammered back.

His mouth tightened into a thin line. **“Where is Loki?”** Khan continued. He needed to talk with the god and demand the reason out of the Asgardian. Why had Loki taken him from his universe? He was better off sleeping after all.

 **“I do not know. I have heard he has been captured,”** the man sputtered. Khan relaxed his grip on the man and the technician shot away.

Brows knitted together in a frown, Khan made his way through the labyrinth of passages that was Loki’s lair. He spotted a stack of uniforms and pulled a shirt and jacket on to blend into society as he headed towards daylight streaming in through a doorway.

Pushing his way past the men who were trying to leave, Khan had already set his mind on one goal.

Loki had much to answer for in taking Khan to his world and Khan was going to pry the roots of the motivation from the god.

_To be continued…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be continuing in the next story from more of Khan's point of view but I will be working on another *secret* fic before continuing it.
> 
> Also a great thanks to everyone who has read this story. I would not have continued this fic for so long without knowing that others enjoyed reading it.
> 
> Baidar outtt....


End file.
